The
significance of this story reflects a Vietnamese author's perspective on the
plight of the American families of soldiers who were killed and/or missing in
action. After the war was over, many of these American soldiers who lost
their lives were simply buried and their remains were never identified and sent
home for a proper burial, and more importantly, for closure
purposes.

This
story symbolizes the stereotypical "rich American" who has the
power and unlimited resources to go to extremes to accomplish his goal of
finding his son's remains and returning them home for burial in the family
plot. It was to his advantage that the Vietnamese government did not
interfere with his mission due to their custom of worshiping their ancestors
and respect for the dead. They honored his wishes even though not
everyone agreed with them.

This
story is told by using exaggeration in describing another painful chapter for
Americans regarding the Vietnam war, bringing to light the many soldiers
missing in action and their remains still being unaccounted for.
Billionaire Richard Steel represents the powerful drive and anxiety suffered by
parents whose instincts would also be to "move mountains" (if
they had unlimited funds) to obtain their sons' remains and have them returned
home in order to bring necessary closure to their lives.

What
I find admirable is the lesson in humanity Mr. Steel learns from the frail old man
who kept his son's remains for all those years. When he achieves his goal
and his son's remains are presented to him, Mr. Steel realizes the significance
of the price of humanity vs. things money cannot buy is worth the billion
dollars he put into the search. He has the remains cremated and then
brings back the American/Vietnamese "Unknown Soldier" – which I
interpret as being symbolic of the two sides coming together.

This
is comparable to other stories, namely "Tony D," because it deals
with conscience and values held by both sides. It is significant that
both stories are written by Vietnamese writers because they show empathy felt
towards Americans whose sons' remains are still unaccounted for. What is
shown to be important in both of these stories is that respect for the dead is
more important than all the money in the world can buy.

I
recommend reading "The Billion Dollar Skeleton" because I found it to
be an escape into the world of the fantastic – to be able to accomplish the
"impossible" provided there is unlimited resources to accomplish
that. The question that comes to my mind as I was reading it is: If
I had access to all the money and resources in the world and the freedom to do
anything I wanted with it, what "impossible task" would I want to
accomplish with it?